How to Focus on single object: Dharana or Concentration
As a direct continuation of the process of withdrawal from external reality, concentration is the ‘holding of the mind in a motionless state’, as the Trisikhi – Brahmana – Upanisad (3I) defines this advanced practice. Concentration means the focusing of one’s total attention to a given point (desa), which may either be a particular part of the body (viz cakra) or, more rarely, an external object (viz image of a deity). Concentration or dharana, from the root dhr (‘to hold’), is ‘one pointedness’ (ekagrata) of the mind directed towards a definite object which is intended to be grasped in its essential nature through the process of meditative absorption and ecstatic identification (samādhi).
The Endeavour to internalize and four consciousness deer not come naturally but requested effort. The yoga – sutra (I.30) mentions a number of ‘obstacles’ which are apt to occur in the course of one’s attempt to bridle the mind. These are illness, languor, doubt heedlessness, slothfulness, dissipation, meditative absorption and the inability to abide in these states. Pain, dejection, trembling of the body and erratic breathing are the natural concomitants of faulty practice,